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Quiet external pump with height capabilities

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I am looking for a good quiet pump, I would like it to push about 300 GPH up 40 inches and through the filter.

I would also like it to be as quiet as possible

Bonus features would be if it had standard female US hose connections, and I think running out of the water would be better for saving space. I dont have much experience with pumps some say to over shoot, but are most pumps adjustable? Because I see they tend to just double in flow and going from say 300 GPH to 600 GPH seems like alot to me. But people also say you should over shoot. I think I could get away with less than 300 GPH. Also I cant tell if a pump is rated for a certain height if that means it will pump its GPH rating at the full height, or go faster if you are lower than that. Also I think if it is external it will need to be self priming am I right?

Return pumps do not operate like a canister filter will. They are not really designed to draw water into the pump using a siphon based system, and there for will not require priming. Return pumps are typically inside the a compartment that will be feed the water they pump, or draw water directly from a compartment they are sitting beside.

If you take your time to do the research FIRST, you can successfully set-up and keep ANY type of aquarium with ease."Not using a quarantine tank is like playing Russian roulette. Nobody wins the game, some people just get to play longer than others." - Anthony CalfoFishless CycleCycling with FishMarine Aquarium Info [URL="http://saltwater.aquaticcommunity.com/"]

Maybe a diagram will help, the filter is home made with 3 inch PVC schedule 40 pipe and a bunch of goodies, most of which is scrub pads from the dollar tree. And it turns out the caps I bought for the PVC pipe are already threaded for a standard US hose connection, you know like garden hose.

Your best bet might be to have the pump internal to the tank with the return line going up into the filter. Something along the lines of a mag drive 7 would work. You can use simple pumbing adaptors to switch from male to female connections

If you take your time to do the research FIRST, you can successfully set-up and keep ANY type of aquarium with ease."Not using a quarantine tank is like playing Russian roulette. Nobody wins the game, some people just get to play longer than others." - Anthony CalfoFishless CycleCycling with FishMarine Aquarium Info [URL="http://saltwater.aquaticcommunity.com/"]

So I assume you mean that I should put the pump on my diagram where it says intake right? Then pump water up to the filter. Also are you accounting for resistance in the filter is that why you chose the magdrive 7? Because the mad drive 3 looks like it is alot closer to the flow rate at 40 inches I am looking for. There should be around 28 gallons of water in the bottom.

Also is there anywhere I could get a sense for how much it will heat up the water?

If you review the chart in the link I posted you will see the mag 7 only has 480 gph at 48 inches. Once you factor the loss of flow from the elbow as well, you are just over 350 gph. As that is a mimimum you were aiming for, I would think the mag 7 would be to smallest pump for your application, unless you are OK with the lower flow.

It's hard to tell how much it would heat up your water, but unless this is in a small tank I would not worry about it getting your water too warm tho. Your heater would likely not cut in as much

Last edited by Cliff; 02-22-2013 at 10:57 AM.

If you take your time to do the research FIRST, you can successfully set-up and keep ANY type of aquarium with ease."Not using a quarantine tank is like playing Russian roulette. Nobody wins the game, some people just get to play longer than others." - Anthony CalfoFishless CycleCycling with FishMarine Aquarium Info [URL="http://saltwater.aquaticcommunity.com/"]

It looks like I get around 175 - 200 gph with the mag drive 7 depending on how high I lift it. I think that will be fine given my filter is probably a lot longer than most.

What is interesting is even at 175 gph the flow from this pump looks like a ton more than the pico mag 300 that I had, and that is when the pico mag 300 is not hooked to anything, just sitting at the surface of the water shooting up. So I think that picomag is severely over rated in its gph.

Here are some pics of the filter I made, has a built in heater and separate external thermostat sensor. I made a little guide to separate the filter media from the heater and attached it to fishing line so I can pull the filter media out without taking out the heater.